Though the novel deals with the Civil War, it begins almost 10 years after the war ended. What is the significance of focusing the narrative on the Reconstruction Era, devoting less than half the novel to the Civil War itself? In what ways does the war inform the novel’s present?

ConaLee’s siblings, the chap and the twins, are only present in retrospect for the first part of the novel, and only the chap returns at the end of the novel. Why are these characters important to ConaLee’s story and the novel’s exploration of family?

The asylum is part of a new system of mental healthcare driven by men like Benjamin Rush and Thomas Story Kirkbride (See: Background). How do the quotes from Dr. Kirkbride influence Phillips’s storytelling? How does the novel explore the nature of mental health and its handling (or mishandling) by society?